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Ringwa
General information This language was simply constructed as an experiment, and for fun. Phonology / Writing system The writing system of Ringwa is called "skritap ringwara" (lit. writing of Ringwa). There is no capital/small letter distinction. Consonants Consonant pairs (?/?) are unvoiced-voiced pairs. IPA symbols: ŋ (ng), θ (th), ð (dh), ʃ (sh), ʒ (zh), x (x), ɣ (gh), tʃ (ch), dʒ (j) Vowels IPA symbols: ə (e), ɛ (ë), æ (ae), ɔ (o) L and R R represents an alveolar tap (IPA: ɾ). L represents an alveolar lateral approximant. (IPA: l) Alphabet Romanized: a, i, o, e, ai, oi, wa, æ/ae, ë, u, r, l, ya, yo, wo, p, k, t, s, ts, š/sh, tš/ch, x, þ/th, f, n, b, g, d, z, dz, ž/zh, dž/j, ğ/gh, ð/dh, v, ng, ra, ap, dya, kya, ël, un, ri, æz. IPA: /a/, /i/, /ɔ/~/o/, /ə/, /ai/, /ɔi/, /wa/, /æ/, /ɛ/~/e/, /u/, /ɾ/, /l/, /ja/, /jɔ/, /wɔ/, /p/, /k/~/c/, /t/, /s/, /ts/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /x/~/ç/, /θ/, /f/, /n/, /b/, /g/~/ɟ/, /d/, /z/, /dz/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /ɣ/~/ʝ/, /ð/, /v/, /ŋ/, /ɾa/, /ap/, /dja/, /cja/, /el/, /un/, /ɾi/, /æz/. Cyrillic: а, и, o, ә, аи, oи, уа, ӓ, е, у, р, л, я/ья, ё/ьё, уo, п, к, т, с, ц, ш, ч, х, ѳ, ф, н, б, г, д, з, ѕ, ж, џ/дж, ґ, дѳ, в, нк/нг, ра, ап, дья, кья, ел, ун, ри, ӓз. Throughout this guide, the romanized script will be used. Orthography for foreign/loan words *"pn" is pronounced /m/. * "xğ" is pronounced /h/. *"pğ","tğ" and "kğ" represent /pʰ/, /tʰ/ and /kʰ/ respectively. * "sl" and "tsl" represent /ɬ/ and /tɬ/ respectively. * "zl" and "dzl" represent /ɮ/ and /dɮ/ respectively. Phonotactics Almost all 2-consonant clusters are allowed, but exactly one of the two must be a stop. /ts/, /dz/, /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ must be written with the proper symbol (not as a pair of symbols).Clusters must have the same voicing throughout, otherwise they are pronounced according to "Orthography for foreign words". When two vowels are next to each other, pronounce a glottal stop between them, except if one of them is /ɾ/ or they are in a diphthong (/ai/, /ja/, /ɔi/, /jɔ/, /wa/, /wɔ/). Only plosives, /n/ or /ŋ/ can precede /w/, and written /ŋ/ must occur at the end of a syllable. Also, the following sound changes take place (in this order): */n/ before a velar consonant is pronounced /ŋ/ except across a word boundary. * /k/, /g/, /x/ and /ɣ/ before /j/ is pronounced /c/, /ɟ/, /ç/ and /ʝ/ respectively. *Any string of 2 or more /ɾ/ must be pronounced as an alveolar trill /r/. Grammar There are three types of word in Ringwa: Objects, Numbers, and Relations. Objects These correspond to other languages' nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Each object has a number of forms to determine what part of speech it is, but some words do not have an adverb form. Objects can have these forms: Noun: (e.g.) Weight Verb: To weigh Performer: (Weigh-er) Balance/scale Adjective: Heavy Adverb: Heavily Object Conjugation/Declension The affixes are applied in the order they are presented in below (top-bottom), if required. A case must be added for nouns and a tense must be added for verbs. Markers must be included on adjectives and adverbs. Table note: The number in parentheses is a "group". Only one member of any group can be added, and things with no group specified are on their own. Stems with no affixes added are verb infinitives. Numbers These are like numbers in other languages, except they are in base 20 (dën). They are a special case of Objects, with a predetermined definition (with "x" being the value): *Noun: x itself *Verb: To multiply by x / To x-tuple (double, triple, quadruple, ...) *Adjective: Having a count of x (paucal/plural) xth (otherwise) *Adverb: Done x times *Performer: A device/person whose purpose is to multiply by x Number words: dën dënri dënri (twenty-twenty-powerof-twenty-powerof) = 202020 is about the 3.5th root of a googolplex (1010100) Number operation suffixes: All operations are written after their inputs, so "two plus one" in Ringwa would be un dhu waba (lit. "one two added") Adding: -ba or -abe Multiplying: No suffix, just concatenate Exponentiation: -ri. Note that the exponent is said and written before the base. Relations These correspond to other languages' articles, particles and prepositions. They do not inflect. Word order * Adjectives and adverbs come after the noun/verb they are describing. * Subjects and agents come before objects * Verbs must be after their subject and object (SOV order). This reduces ambiguity. * Relations can only come after nouns. Vocabulary Example text The alphabet: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1: Category:Languages